One of the more common causes of heel pain is something called plantar fasciitis. This refers to the plantar fascia, which is the fibrous tissue that connects the heel to the ball of the foot. Similar to a ligament, the plantar fascia is relatively robust, but it can also get injured. This can commonly come about due to imperfect foot structure, obesity, and prolonged standing or walking (particularly on harder surfaces like concrete). This leads to inflammation, which in turn can be quite painful..